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Morocco, a wonderful exploration

It's always been a place we've wanted to go and that dream has finally come true.

We booked a specialist Geology and Fossil Collecting trip via a locally (Morocco) based company LED voyages www.ledvoyages.com who did a fantastic job of organizing everything for us and whom we would be happy to recommend to anyone looking for a similar adventure.

Marrakech

The holiday started and ended with us having our own adventures in marrakech. You can see the results of these days and our impressions of marrakech in the specific pictures and information sections.

The Desert

We then went onto the tour proper where our guide Mbarak did a great job of chauffeuring us through sun, dust, rock, mountains and sands to get us to all the places we wanted to go and then onto our accommodation each night

We made the relatively extravagant decision on this trip to have our own car and driver for the two of us. This was an excellent decision which I would recommend if you can afford it, as our guide Mbarak who proved to be charming, knowledgeable and patient, only had me asking him to stop every time I saw another picture opportunity. There are also many companies including LED Voyages who offer group tours which are good for getting to know other people, but there is also something wonderful about the personal touch. Mbarak told us when we got to Merzouga to stay in the excellent Kasbah Mohayut that this was his home area, and he clearly knew every track around the area as was demnstrated by some of the routes we took.

The accommodation was a variety of Hotels and Kasbah's each of which proved to be clean, tidy and welcoming. The remoteness of some of the places is wonderful and I will always treasure the views from the front terrace of Maersch Kasbah where we were also able to sit at night for our meal and look out over literally miles of view with a single other light showing in the distance. So it's no surprise then if I say that my personal favorite of the locations we stayed was indeed the Maerch Oasis of which there are some shots in the landscape section.

Many of the remote Kasbah's run on generators and once they are off the dark skies are a wonder and we were able to sit and look up at the wide open expanse of the skies with more starts visible than you can see almost anywhere in the UK. The milky way was simply stupendous!

The transport was of course Toyota Land Cruiser, in the desert these days it's the vehicle of choice. It's a pity that Land Rovers which used to be the vehicle of choice out here became either too basic or too complex, but you can't fault the comfort and reliability of Toyota's best. We did miles of the "Toyota Massage chair" as we bounced over rocks and dunes. We couldn't have done the trip any other way. it was the perfect vehicle for the job. How on earth our guide knew just which of the many tracks to take I have no idea, it's no easy job navigating those areas as you can read about in the bikers section.

We ended with a very pleasant visit to see Guy and his wife and we wish them well for their child that's on the way (Due early in 2011). Guy told us, as we shared an excellent malt whisky which which was tastefully extracted from his hidden stash, how he had decided that the corporate IT world was no-longer for him and how he had hit the road one day, looking for adventure. From all we saw he's had plenty of that, and he's doing a great job in helping others follow in his tracks

The Summary

Now our initial visit is over we're thinking again. Maybe it's time to buy that Land Rover 130 Ambulance and convert it into the go anywhere camper we've always wanted. (Feb 2011 Update.. I've bought Such a vehicle now via ebay so am starting to think about this more seriously now - see landroverkaty.blogspot.com for all our fun and games on that adventure )

I do have to add one note of warning. Many of the remote places are running on generators, and some of them not voltage regulated. I get in the habit of charging electronic devices at every opportunity, but got it wrong one night when I had no need to ( we were only 1 day away from the mains), and it was a spectacular bang as my Olympus battery charger exploded and fused. Not a massive problem, because I holiday with backups of everything and at that point had 7 charged batteries and only 3 days to go, but next time I'm going to pack a surge protector as well as the kit I normally take on these type of trips. I have to say that the proprietors of the Kasbah were simply mortified that this had happened and did everything they could to make up for it and we're now the proud owners of a couple of small polished orthocone pendants as free gifts and recompense.

The Cameras

The pictures in this section are taken with my E-30 and E-510 Olympus cameras with a selection of lenses, especially the superb all-rounder the 14-54mm f2.8 lens.

I can not praise the Olympus cameras too much as the anti-dust system and dust and weather proofed PRO quality lenses enabled me to take some pictures in truly awful dust storm conditions where users of other camera makes were visibly worried about their equipment, and often chose to leave their cameras in the cars. I have experienced no issues with dust in any of my cameras